Quote Originally Posted by alexei90 View Post
If words mostly have multiple meanings, how is one supposed to learn them through association?
First and foremost, what I said is not about learning words from associations... not really. It's more about creating a mental imprint of what the word represents.

This is where the magic starts. Most of the time having only one "imprint" of the word is enough to understand the other meanings the word might have and therefore learn them very easily. Why? Because most of variations in a single word's meanings are created just by using a word figuratively. The "core" meaning is still the same, it's just used creatively.

Just a fresh example of how this "mental imprint" helped me understand something I might have had troubles understanding otherwise.

When I heard "sore loser" for the first time, I immediately understood what it meant. Even so if we go word for word and translate it into Russian we'll get "больной проигравший". That actully gives you an idea of a loser who's sick with something like an actual illness. Nothing can be further from the truth.

Instead, "sore" has a mental imprint of something red and swollen and painful in my mind. Combining that with loser gave me a clear idea what those two words actually meant. Someone who can't get over their defeat.

You see, the other benefit of this is that now I can't imagine what can make me forget these two words. I heard them once and it was enough to make me remember them for good. Moreover, I know exactly the situation when to use them in the future.

P.S. If you want to know how to properly say "you're such a sore loser" in Russian there you go.

Ты не умеешь проигрывать

Couldn't be more different from the original, could it?

Quote Originally Posted by alexei90 View Post
If words mostly have multiple meanings, how is one supposed to learn them through association?
(Если у слова обычно много смыслов, как я должен их учить по соединения?) - Это больше и меньше дословно, но это все правильно? Я так думаю потому что послышался наибольше слов раньше и знаю наибольше их смыслов.
- Здесь лучше сказать "самый большой" или "наибольше"?
If words mostly have multiple meanings, how is one supposed to learn them through association? - Если у слов имеется много различных значений, как я должен учить их по ассоциациям?

Your translation was pretty good. Соединения didn't make any sense there though. The other words are alright.

Я так думаю потому что послышался наибольше слов раньше и знаю наибольше их смыслов. This doesn't make much sense. Sorry. I can only assume that you meant something like:

I think so because I've heard most of the words before and know most of their meanings.

If so: Я так думаю потому, что уже слышал многие эти слова и знаю большинство их значений.